Uber Is Expected to Acquire Careem for $3.1 Billion This Week

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Uber, the U.S based ride-hailing company is planning to acquire its Middle Eastern, Careem rival in a $3.1 billion cash-and-share deal this week, according to sources talking to Bloomberg.

According to the report, the Uber will pay $1.4 billion in cash and $1.7 billion in convertible notes for Careem where the notes will be convertible into Uber shares at a price equal to $55 per share.

With this move, Uber is seemingly going on the offensive to gain a larger market share in the ride-hailing world. As the company is also planning to publicly file for its IPO in April this year, acquiring Careem would give investors an extra reason to back the company and according to some estimates, will raise Uber’s value to $100 billion.

Careem was valued at about $1 billion in a 2016 funding round has more than a million drivers and 30 million users across 90 cities and while Uber had to back out of major international markets, the former left quite an impression in the ride-hailing industry.

The acquisition will also lead to Uber’s bigger role in the Middle-Eastern market. As of right now, it is not certain just what U.S based company would do with its acquisition as the two companies have not given any official statement yet.